Theodric : A Domestic Tale; and Other Poems (1825), To the Rainbow
Context: p>How glorious is thy girdle cast
O'er mountain, tower, and town,
Or mirror'd in the ocean vast,
A thousand fathoms down! As fresh in yon horizon dark,
As young thy beauties seem,
As when the eagle from the ark
First sported in thy beam.For, faithful to its sacred page,
Heaven still rebuilds thy span,
Nor lets the type grow pale with age
That first spoke peace to man.</p
“A bridge does not abandon its first shore when it grows out in spans towards the further one.”
Source: The Flame is Green (1971), Ch. 9 : Oh, The Steep Roofs of Paris
Context: We ourselves become the bridges out over the interval that is the world and time. It is a daring thing to fling ourselves out over that void that is black and scarlet below and green and gold above. A bridge does not abandon its first shore when it grows out in spans towards the further one.
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R. A. Lafferty 109
American writer 1914–2002Related quotes
§ 2-3
Pali Canon, Sutta Pitaka, Khuddaka Nikaya (Minor Collection), Sutta Nipata (Suttas falling down)
“One does not fall "in" or "out" of love. One grows in love.”
LOVE (1972)
“What does it matter if China’s economy grows when there are no basic protections for its citizens?”
2000-09, An Artist’s Ordeal. 2009
“There all stood begging to be first across
And reached out longing hands to the far shore.”
Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum
Tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 313–314 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)
The Building of the City Beautiful (1905), Ch. V : How Beautiful!, p. 48.
“Further, as there is no one who does not wish to be happy, so there is no one who does not wish”
XI, 26, Parts of this passage has been heavily compared with later statements of René Descartes; in Latin and with a variant translations:
The City of God (early 400s)
Context: We both are, and know that we are, and delight in our being, and our knowledge of it. Moreover, in these three things no true-seeming illusion disturbs us; for we do not come into contact with these by some bodily sense, as we perceive the things outside of us of all which sensible objects it is the images resembling them, but not themselves which we perceive in the mind and hold in the memory, and which excite us to desire the objects. But, without any delusive representation of images or phantasms, I am most certain that I am, and that I know and delight in this. In respect of these truths, I am not at all afraid of the arguments of the Academicians, who say, What if you are deceived? For if I am deceived, I am. For he who is not, cannot be deceived; and if I am deceived, by this same token I am. And since I am if I am deceived, how am I deceived in believing that I am? for it is certain that I am if I am deceived. Since, therefore, I, the person deceived, should be, even if I were deceived, certainly I am not deceived in this knowledge that I am. And, consequently, neither am I deceived in knowing that I know. For, as I know that I am, so I know this also, that I know. And when I love these two things, I add to them a certain third thing, namely, my love, which is of equal moment. For neither am I deceived in this, that I love, since in those things which I love I am not deceived; though even if these were false, it would still be true that I loved false things. For how could I justly be blamed and prohibited from loving false things, if it were false that I loved them? But, since they are true and real, who doubts that when they are loved, the love of them is itself true and real? Further, as there is no one who does not wish to be happy, so there is no one who does not wish [themself] to be [into being]. For how can he be happy, if he is nothing?